Houston officer rescues woman in D.C. subway fall

Published 6:30 am, Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Houston Metro Officer Eliot Swainson and nine colleagues went to Washington to help the city's transit system deal with the massive inauguration crowds.

Houston Metro Officer Eliot Swainson and nine colleagues went to Washington to help the city's transit system deal with the massive inauguration crowds.

Photo: Larry Levine, For The Chronicle

Houstonian rescues woman falling into D.C. subway's path

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It all happened so quickly, Houston Metro Police officer Eliot Swainson never even got the woman’s name.

Swainson was credited with saving the woman’s life Tuesday morning after she fell off a subway platform in Washington, D.C., with a train approaching. He was one of 10 Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority police officers in the nation’s capital to help move commuters heading to the National Mall for the inauguration.

Swainson, reached by telephone, said he was giving a commuter directions about 9:30 a.m. when he heard a commotion. A 68-year-old woman had fallen from the train platform at the Gallery Place-Chinatown station near the city center.

Swainson grabbed her right arm while another commuter grabbed her left arm and began tugging, trying to pull her back onto the platform. Swainson said he then saw that the train was approaching fast and there was not enough time to pull her up.

He instead maneuvered her to crouch beneath a “cove” underneath the platform to escape harm. The woman remained there until she could be removed safely. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority reported that the woman suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to a hospital.

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